Hays - Freelance Product Owner

The organization is looking for an experienced Product Owner / Team Manager to lead a team responsible for applications supporting the inventory, design, build and maintenance of HFC and fiber networks.

The role combines IT, engineering and Telecom infrastructure. You will define the long-term product vision and roadmap, improve delivery quality and operational stability, and guide a multidisciplinary team through modernization and transformation. The assignment also includes people management, stakeholder alignment and vendor management.

Key Responsibilities

• Product ownership & strategy:
  • Define and execute the product vision and roadmap for Network Design Tooling.
  • Translate strategic objectives into actionable team goals and priorities.
  • Own, maintain and prioritize the product backlog.
  • Manage the full product lifecycle and overall product health.
• Team leadership & delivery:
  • Lead and coach a multidisciplinary team of analysts, developers and external resources.
  • Take ownership of people management and HR responsibilities for the core team.
  • Drive delivery excellence, quality improvements and operational stability.
  • Monitor capacity, budget and team performance together with leadership.
• Stakeholder & vendor management:
  • Manage external delivery partners and vendors in Belgium and abroad.
  • Align stakeholders across different business and technology domains.
  • Prioritize initiatives and influence stakeholders in a complex environment with competing demands.
• Modernization:
  • Contribute to the modernization of the application landscape.
  • Support initiatives involving cloud adoption, CI/CD and automation.

Profile & Required Experience

Professional background:

• Master's degree or equivalent through experience.
• Minimum 5 years of experience as Product Owner, Product Lead or in a similar leadership role.
• Experience managing and coaching multidisciplinary teams.
• Proven experience working with software development teams and external vendors.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills.
• Experience working in complex enterprise environments.
• Ability to define a clear long-term vision while remaining hands-on in execution.
• Experience within Telecom, utilities, network infrastructure or engineering environments is highly valued.

Technical & functional skills:

• Product Ownership within an IT or Telecom-related environment.
• Backlog management and prioritization.
• Agile product delivery knowledge.
• Ability to work effectively with developers, analysts and technical teams.
• Vendor and partner management.
• Knowledge of fiber, HFC, network inventory or network design processes is a plus.
• Experience with Physical Network Inventory tooling or similar network design applications is a plus.
• Knowledge of OSS/BSS environments is a plus.
• Experience with modernization initiatives involving cloud, CI/CD and test automation is a plus.

Languages:

• Dutch: Strongly preferred
• English: Fluent and mandatory